The Union front office continues to impress in the offseason as they retool the roster heading into the 2012 Major League Soccer season.

Though Gomez looks to be a journeyman with his impressive travel log (stints in Cyprus, Mexico), he has put in some good time at pretty decent-sized clubs like Belenenses in Portugal (over 70 appearances) and Colombian stalwart Independiente Santa Fe. A central midfielder, Gomez should be a major upgrade over Miglioranzi (though he may still re-sign) and fit in nicely with Brian Carroll and Amobi Okugo.

US Men’s Soccer fans will probably not recognize Gomez for anything other than his 2011 Gold Cup run, namely his penalty kick conversion that wound up being the eventual gamewinner in the biggest upset of that tournament. In fact, Gomez’s international appearances have been much more impressive than his club career so far. The Panama City native has racked up over 70 appearances for Los Canaleros and scored 8 goals – 5 of which came in 2011. He has size, durability, and the natural fitness to run a game for 90 plus minutes.

The signing of Gomez, however, leaves the Union with some moves to make in the coming months with 10 international players on the books (the team is allowed 8). Gomez joins after the recent signings of Costa Rican striker Josue Martinez and the Union’s 2nd Homegrown Player Jimmy McLaughlin.

Challenge to our readers – can anyone find proof that Freddy Adu (with Belenenses on loan in 2009) and Gabriel Gomez played together at some point? We have no doubt they trained together but in the three games Adu played, we don’t know if Gomez played as well.